Val bursts into your office, WE HAVE TO CHOOSE TODAY!

[NJRedman]

no one can acurately predict how school "a" would do in a differnt conference. If Gonzaga was already in the BE would they be still having the season they are? would people still be as enamored with them should their success fade?

Oh I agree, anything can happen but you need to ask these questions because it could definitely happen. What do we do if the Zags crap the bed? Maybe not year one or two but year five or six they start to struggle and end up at the bottom of the league nearly every year? Where does their value lie then? These are legit questions that most on sports boards don't ask, they just look at current and recent success or failures on the court and thats it. The people making these decisions are looking at a lot more than that and asking these tough questions.

[DeltaV]

I like Davidson because I like the idea of moving south as a nice f--- you to the ACC.

I don't think Dayton gets us anything overly exciting. The only people excited by this would be Dayton fans.

VCU and WSU...If I were forced I'd take VCU because they're closer and have done well in a tougher conference, but I do like the idea of staying private.

Which leaves us with Gonzaga or SLU. Is SLU doing anything this year (ranking or recruits)? Ugh, they're 10-14. Location is good, academics are good, but come back when you don't, well, suck. What, Gonzaga is a top 5 team, frequently? You know what, go big or go home. If they want to play, why the hell not.

[DudeAnon]

VCU and SLU in a tight race for 2nd. Hurry up, Val is waiting for my decision before the end of the night!

[gosports1]

Nothing against Davidson but what are they at best, the 5th favorite team in North carolina? Maybe even 6th or 7th?

[GibsoniaPA]

My vote to Dayton- perfect institutional fit, will bring a rabid fan base to the league's venues (including the league tournament- Flyer fans travel well), unquestioned commitment to BB, and seems to finally getting traction with their program success. I understand the east coast teams have no historical ties with UD, but the western league schools are no strangers. Down side- does not deliver a large market- but does dominate their market.

[BEwannabe]

I don't think Dayton gets us anything overly exciting. The only people excited by this would be Dayton fans.

You're forgetting 1 thing, your television partner Fox would be excited.

Dayton would immediately become the Big East's highest drawing team or 2nd highest drawing team in tv ratings. The Dayton market will never watch Big East basketball without UD, there is no interest in Xavier or Butler. My wife oversees media buys in the Dayton market for 1 of the regions largest employers and they buy live local sports spots up to including major live sporting events like the Super Bowl and BCS National Championship. WHIO TV and radio dominate the local media market in Dayton and they're the voice of UD. WHIO TV is the #1 CBS affiliate in the USA.

Additionally UD fans will add some zest to what is seemingly dull fan base . Any away arena with tickets for sale for weekend games will see 300-500 UD fans or in the case of Cincinnati, Indy and Chicago they'll draw weekday or weekend. UD Arena is soldout out today for St. Bonaventure as is the case for almost any conference game on Saturday...fans come from St.Louis,Chicago, Indy, Pittsburgh for the UD weekend basketball experience.

And as an institutional fit, UD is the best institutional fit. It's a good school, beautiful campus area, UD would be 2nd in endowment only to Georgetown, strong athletics across the board, making UD a great travel partner.

I doubt it happens anytime soon because it seems as if the sentiment with most here (not sure if it reflects league thinking) is wait 5-10 years. 1 of the windows already has passed because it seems as if Fox has withdrawn their add 2 teams and we'll pay for them. I don't see Big East schools voting themselves a pay decrease especially with many of them with such small endowments.

From my perpsective, UD is going to flourish in the A10 but the Big East is a better long term institutional fit. Xavier banning UD? Not sure that is the case as I'm sure XU administration is familiar with UD and a UD exclusion from Big East isn't going to alter UD's continued upward trajectory. Competition for recruits? UD was Elite 8 last year and on a path for a return NCAA trip this year and solid nucleus returning next year and we're not in the Big East and Xavier and Butler are doing fine as well. It's 13 scholarships, it's more about staffs being able to identify and recruit talent that fits how they want to play basketball and including kids that are not only basketball players, read, kids that won't cause you grief and all of us as fans have had our share of those kids. But with 13 ships, there are plenty of players for everyone.

[TheBall]

I would really hate to see us expand just for the sake of expanding. That's what this feels like. When there is a no-brainer option we'll know it.

Exactly

[TheBall]

If dayton continues success, then add them. But it has been a rough couple of decades for dayton and they have zero national brand recognition right now. But if they step it up, I would welcome them. And I'm not talking about a fluke run like St. Louis had.

[James]

If we add Gonzaga then I'd also add someone like St. Mary's. We've been through all the pros and cons of going out west but might as well expand to increase the quality of the league rather than expand for expansions sake. Out of this options Dayton is the other one I hate the least.

Please God no to St. Louis though. They've only been in the conversation because they happened to be good when the C7 were looking for 3 other teams

Stick to 10 seems to be the general consensus and I agree.

[BEwannabe]

Last 2 decades rough ball?

Since 2000 these are UD RPI
50,58,61,20,41,119,184,76,29,27,36,79,91,115,33, currently 36

The 119 & 184 & 115 were coaching change years and from what I read here there won't be any coaching changes in Big East because of the prestige and $'s so Dayton inclusion eliminates those blips. In all of these years except for 2006 UD has been outstanding in the OOC but for several reason faltered in A10. A couple of season were marred by injury and frankly A10 coaches had Brian Gregory's # but with that knock on BG it must be noted he had an incredible record against BCS teams.